Scavenging.

[Scythe13]

I used to work in the shop/wholesale/confectionary world (Nestle). DAMN, they put more psychology into their budgets than they do chocolate!!! It's insane. But it's fascinating as well. But that's not the point of this post.

Tins are sold to the food companies, same as tyres are sold to car manufacturers. Any labelling on the tins will normally be the tinning companies own markings.

I am a little curious though. Why would you find a load of tins without labels?

I remember a film (can't remember what it was) where a guy was shaking tins and could tell the contents from the sound they made. It might not be true, but there is probably some validity. I reckon I could tell beans from packed meat, from fruit in juice, from custard. The sounds should be quite easy to differentiate. However, I couldn't tell some things, like beans from peas, and that. You're best off picking up tins and giving them a shake, then see if your ears are able to do it.